The underrated Bond movie gets a 35th Anniversary reissue this year!
Article by Paul Dunne
20th January 2025
This spring, popular boutique label La-La Land Records will release a limited edition expanded score of the James Bond film Licence To Kill.
Licence To Kill was the sixteenth Bond film and actor Welsh actor Timothy Dalton’s second (and as it turns out, final) appearance as the world’s most famous spy. It introduced a harder edge in both the acting and directorial style of the series, first breaking the ground the fan-favourite Daniel Craig era would receive so much praise for. Its villain was a Mexican drug kingpin, Sanchez, played by Robert Davi, and signalled a real-world awareness in the writing of the series for the first time.
The edgier tone extended to the score, which was written by Michael Kamen, Hollywood’s premiere action-film composer of the eighties. Kamen had previously composed the incredible scores of Die Hard and Lethal Weapon (with Eric Clapton and David Sanborn) and later would create the music for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Event Horizon (with Orbital), Die Hard With A Vengeance and the first X-Men film.
Kamen would continue being an important composer in American and British films until his untimely death in 2003. His final work was for the remake of Magnificent Seven, released posthumously.
La-La Land has created this brand new, 2-disc version of Kamen’s score in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, EON Productions and Universal Music Enterprises. It’s limited to just 5,000 copies worldwide and will be sold exclusively through La-La Land and the 007 Store for the first 90 days of release, but given the track record of La-La Land’s releases, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to get a copy beyond that 90-day limit because these albums tend to sell fast!
This release is produced by Neil S. Bulk and mastered by Doug Schwartz from 1/4" stereo tapes and 3-track mag provided by MGM. The score presentation is spread across both discs, while Disc Two also includes the remastered 1989 soundtrack album and additional music. The exclusive, new liner notes are by film music journalist and author Jon Burlingame and the art direction is by Dan Goldwasser.
You can pre-order Licence To Kill: 35th Anniversary Remastered & Expanded Limited Edition (2-CD Set) exclusively from the 007 Store in the UK and from La-La Land Records in the US.